Cynthia Farr-Weinfeld, a hypnotherapist and writer, started improving the nutritional profile of a friend’s mother’s ginger cookie recipe by substituting whole-wheat pastry flour for all-purpose flour and canola oil for shortening. “Experiment with these cookies,” she advises, “as they taste great either slightly underdone or crispy.” She calls them “the quickest cookies you’ll ever bake.”

Makes 34 cookies

ACTIVE TIME: 10 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour

EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

2/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups turbinado sugar, divided (see Tip)
1 large egg
4 tablespoons molasses
2 cups sifted whole-wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix oil and 1 cup sugar in a large bowl until combined. Beat in egg until combined. Stir in molasses until evenly incorporated. Sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt over the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
3. Put the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and roll each ball in the sugar before placing 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Do not flatten.
4. Bake the cookies until set, but still soft when gently touched, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per cookie: 103 calories; 5 g fat (0 g sat, 3 g mono); 6 mg cholesterol; 15 g carbohydrate; 1 g protein; 1 g fiber; 94 mg sodium; 38 mg potassium.
1 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 1 other carbohydrate, 1 fat

TIP: Tip: Turbinado sugar is steam-cleaned raw cane sugar. It’s coarse-grained and light brown in color, with a slight molasses flavor. The coarse texture adds great crunch when used in baking. Find it in the natural-foods section of large supermarkets or at natural-foods stores.

MAKE AHEAD TIP: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

This recipe is super easy and the results are delicious. The time it took to make a double batch was less than quoted. I followed the recipe exactly except I was out of turbinado and used white sugar, and for the last step I used colored sugar instead of turbinado, and just on top.

Kristine, Honolulu, HI

I think it is a very good cookie, but really struggle that EVERY cookie has 103 calories? Is that correct?

Kristin, WA

These cookies are delicious. The dough was a little sticky for rolling into balls, but a few minutes in the fridge helped. Yum!

Tina, West Chester, PA

These are some of the easiest, but more importantly, the best cookies I have ever made. Everyone that has tried them has asked for the recipe!

Juanita, Austin, TX

Easy to make. Used regular white whole wheat flour. I added fresh ground ginger into the "wet" ingredients... in addition to the powdered ginger. Very "snappy" and delicious.

Jean, Albany, NY

These cookies are superb! They are chewy and light. I was concerned about what the finished size would be and they are about 2 1/2" diameter and that is a generous size for such an easy recipe.

Valerie, Atlanta, GA

These are the best -- they are a new favorite in our house. Sometimes I add some chopped crystallized ginger chunks which is great too.

Anna, Boulder, CO

These cookies are amazing and I have made them many times, once using barley malt in place of molasses. It gives it a toastier flavour that is quite lovely on the palate. Also, I use regular sugar and it works just fine.

Kira, Berkeley, CA

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour works well (I get it from a Fred Meyer's bulk section). Also, I use xylotol, a sweetner with calories, BUT, it helps with dental health and is not debatably a cause of cancer (unlike some sweetners like Splenda and Aspartame). NOW has a good price--it works just fine in all recipes! The only sweetner I use!

R Kremer, ID